In order to run faster, you have to RUN FASTER. Shedding minutes off of your race time
involves doing fartleks (Swedish for "speed play") involving speed workouts,
intervals, and repeats. Whatever workout
you choose to do will most likely involve intervals of running at a speed
slightly to moderately faster than you regular "easy" pace. You know, the pace you would keep if you were
just going out for a nice morning jog around your neighborhood without keeping
time.

MVS

Once you decide on the work out drill you want to do, you
will need to figure out your current "easy" pace per mile. Your interval training speed will be at a
pace that is 10 seconds to 30 seconds faster than your "easy" pace. The goal interval speed you choose will
depend on how hard you want to push yourself and how much faster you are trying
to get.

Unless you are one of the lucky runners who can just feel
that they are going the right speed (some people have this skill; I definitely
do not), you will need some way of tracking your speed to ensure that you are
hitting your goals. This can be done is
several ways:

Treadmill

Running/Sports
watch that tracks pace/speed

Choreographed
playlist by bpm

I am not one of those "naked" runners. I have always run with an iPod or other mp3
player and I always will. I enjoy
feeling the music and using it help keep me on pace and hitting with an even
foot strike over and over again. When I
am running to work out stress or aggression, a good rock song can help me work
out that emotion. If I need a little
pick-me-up, nothing gets me smiling faster than running to U2's "Beautiful Day."

In addition, I rely heavily on my playlist for my speed
training. Since I am personally
extremely averse to the treadmill (only succumbing to it if I really have to)
and not really loving looking down at my Garmin every second to ensure I am
running fast enough, I depend on my specially designed playlist to keep me at
running at the right speeds. It
literally allows me to tune out and not focus so hard on the workout
itself. As long as I am running to the
beat of the song, I know what speed I am running.

Choreographing a playlist for a training run or race is highly
personal, as only you know what your current speed is, what you would like your
training pace to be, and what songs would motivate you to make your
targets. I know it sounds a little
complicated, but I promise you that it is easier than it sounds. Here is a basic example if your "easy" pace
is 10 minutes/mile (6mph).

(If the average song is about 3 minutes, this work out
would be approximately 30 minutes.)

Song 1: 10:30 minutes/mile = 05.71 mph = 145 bpm
(WarmUp)

Song 2: 10:00 minutes/mile = 06.00 mph = 150 bpm
(Easy Pace)

Song 3: 09:30 minutes/mile = 06.32 mph = 155 bpm
(Speed Pace)

Song 4: 10:00 minutes/mile = 06.00 mph = 150 bpm
(Easy Pace)

Song 5: 09:30 minutes/mile = 06.32 mph = 155 bpm
(Speed Pace)

Song 6: 10:00 minutes/mile = 06.00 mph = 150 bpm
(Easy Pace)

Song 7: 09:30 minutes/mile = 06.32 mph = 155 bpm
(Speed Pace)

Song 8: 10:00 minutes/mile = 06.00 mph = 150 bpm
(Easy Pace)

Song 9: 09:30 minutes/mile = 06.32 mph = 155 bpm
(Speed Pace)

Song 10: 10:30
minutes/mile = 05.71 mph = 145 bpm (Cool Down)

Keep in mind that this is just an example and there are
countless different speed work outs, ladder work outs, and interval/repeat work
outs. If you need ideas, be sure and
check out the Runner's
World page on speed workouts. It is
a great resource. You can make your
playlists as long or as short as you need, depending on your training run or
race distance. Having a choreographed
playlist is especially helpful in long distance training runs or races because
it helps you focus on maintaining good form, proper breathing, and mental
endurance without also having to worry about pace.

Now it is time to get started on your list! Below is a basic conversion chart for taking
your minutes/mile target goals and determining the bpm (beats per minute) of
the songs you need to select.

All that is left is going through your playlist and picking
your favorite songs and you are done! If
you need some help picking out songs in your target bpm ranges, have no
fear! I have you covered! Check out the list of running songs on my
blog, katieRUNSthis. There are over 475
songs there (with at least 10 new songs added each week) and all are organized
by bpm and then alphabetically.

So, there you go!
Time to make your playlist and get outside and get running...faster, of
course!

For more of my runners rambles, be sure and check out
all the articles on katieRUNSthis. Happy
running!